The image above is a spooky house that is down by a river just outside of David.  I have no idea of the story behind it, but it must have been huge before it fell into ruin.  The river that it abuts is a fine place to cool off in the shade on hot days, which are the norm now, in David.  There are little fish in it that freak you out as they pick at the dead skin on your legs.  Once you know what is happening, they are just good laugh, as the feeling is just about impossible to describe.

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Well, that movie sucked. Long, poorly directed, and cheesy. I think I’ll try one of the kids movies the next time. They usually have an adult vein of humor through them to keep them awake.

Last night I tried to make my reservations from the hot-spot down the street from here. I got all the way through the pages, inputting my information multiple times, but when it came time to pay for it with my credit card it was declined. Uh oh. Now what? I had some problems with this card earlier that day when I tried to buy the battery, but thought it only a problem with the line at the time. My Visa worked ok, and I paid for it with that, but when I tried the Visa for the flight, it was declined also. It took a while to lay me down to sleep that night. What was the problem?

Today I went to go get a calling card so I could call and find out what the problem was. Down to the gas station to buy one from the gas jockeys who flog them there, and back to the hotel for a shower. Refreshed, I tried the card, got through eventually, after dialing umpteen numbers into the phone. First an access number, then the card number, then the long distance number, then press 1 for English, and on, and on, add nauseum, until I got a real person. He told me that when I had used the card to make a call in Toronto it had set off alarm bells in their fraud department and they had immediately shut the door. I guess that is good news to see that they are on the ball for things like that, but I didn’t like being told that they prefer I give them a call when I expect to be out of the country. Not really any of their business? Well, I guess it is… but I don’t like it. So, anyways, good news. They reactivated the card, told me I had a new higher credit limit (the vultures), and I hung up the phone. Relief. Another fire put out.

After another shower, I went to Angulo’s office, and after cooling my heels in their air conditioned office for a while, finally received my shares. Nice. Ssssss. Out goes another fire. I have to pay $300 at the office down the street for my yearly “business license”, all for a Corporation that doesn’t have a bank account yet. I don’t know if I will bother with it, but it makes a nice souvenir at very least. Time will tell on that one.

Now, I’m not sure what to do with myself. I still have to make those reservations, but that will be done later in the evening when it is cool. I’ve paid for another two days here, and actually, when I was first thinking it through, that is about how long I thought it would take to get things in order before I headed out on the road. I’ve now been here in Panama for one week, but it has seemed much longer to me because of all that has transpired since my return. The other way of looking at that is that I have gotten a lot accomplished in relatively little “Panama time”. I must be learning the ropes a bit.

Tonight I will take Magda out for dinner to repay her for her kindness over the past year. Even though many things didn’t turn out as I would have liked, none of it was her fault. Maybe we can have a bit better discussion now that I have been brushing up on my Spanish for a full week.

Lee also wants me to take his sister out to her land for a “photo shoot”. Seems her sons are in control of her money “in trust”, and pictures would help in that regard immensely, so it is the least I can do for a friend. That, of course, assumes that I can get my car out of the parking tomorrow morning. There was a car parked in the driveway again today. The same car. The thing with that is you have to pay for a parking pass to be parked on the street here, but if you park in a driveway they can’t ticket you. It helps to understand these things, but it doesn’t make it any less convenient (massive understatement).

I just took a picture of my little setup here. Nice and cool here in the back. Panama has passed a no smoking law now, which they don’t really enforce unless someone complains, but now you are not supposed to smoke “on the premises” or be subject to a possible $5000 fine. That’s right, $5 G!! It’s one of those rules they put out there so if someone wants to pick on you, they can punch you right in the nuts, and hard. 5 G is more than a years work for most folks here. Ouch.

That’s enough for now. I think I’ll have another shower and bide my time until Magda gives me a call.

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I ran into another guy I met here last year while I was on a walk. He was standing on a corner talking to Jon, the fellow from Montreal. He didn’t look any better than the last time I saw him here, pale and strung out looking. He has moved himself into a house that he rents for $110 a month not too far from here and says he has arranged to keep the place rented for half that price while he is away in the states. For $55 buks a month, I guess I’d do the same if I could.

Magda called while I was chatting with them about tourist cards and the different lengths of time they allow different countries, so I was saved by the bell as they say.

Magda and I went down to Puertrorillos, the boat launch just out of town, and had a great fish dinner. I had fillet de delgado, whatever that was, and thought it was awesome. I don’t care much for fish when I am back home, but down here is another matter. No bones in a tomato sauce. Mmmmmm.

I brought her up to speed on all that had happened over the week, and we just talked about life otherwise, switching back and forth from Spanish to English when I was trying to say something more involved. My command of Spanish is still limited to simple ideas, for the most part, but I pick up new vocabulary little by little.

When I returned to the hotel, I went for another walk down to the Municipal building which has a lot of benches laid out under the trees there. One thing about David is that there really aren’t a whole lot of places to just go and sit and chill with relative peace and quiet. This place is one of them and was full of young couples, and families with their children just passing the time. People watching is endless entertainment at times.

Returning to the hotel, I looked for Olga, Lees’ sister, and told her I would take her out to do the “photo shoot” in the morning once I had a coffee in my hand. She told me she had a coffee maker in her room, so that saved a trip, and I’ll just knock on her door in the morning.

It is much easier to fill out forms in the dark when you make a wordpad document of all the relative information you will need. Then you just cut and paste. 😀